Hillary Ojeda, education correspondent for Lookout Santa Cruz, and I covered the celebration of the renaming of College 10 as John R. Lewis College yesterday in the Quarry Amphitheater. We had got a tip that there was “someone in the audience” that we would need to get a photo of and that we should get front-row seats. As it turned out, it wasn’t a someone, but a something. When Cynthia Larive, chancellor of the university, took the stage, approximately fifty students in the audience quietly stood and held up signs reading “We can see your greed UC.” They remained standing for the duration of Chancellor Larive’s speech, and that of Michael Drake, president of the University of California.
Once Drake finished his speech with his final pre-written words praising the idea of “good trouble,” the many students standing in protest quietly took their seats. College Ten — now John R. Lewis College — students Cheru Robinson and Ray Diaz, who were the emcees for the event, were in cahoots with the act of protest. After Drake took his seat, they presented him with a list of demands “just for him” in honor of him taking the time to attend the event.
It was my first photo assignment to cover an event for Lookout Santa Cruz, and I am pleased with what I got. Hillary Ojeda did an impressive job of getting the story out in time for the PM newsletter within an hour of the event ending. You can read the article here (free access for UCSC and Cabrillo students): UCSC celebrates John R. Lewis College dedication, with students engaging in some ‘good trouble’. These are a couple of shots that didn’t make it into the publication.
